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KECTUGKY UMIGMISTS 8F 1561. 



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ADDRESS 



-uEVEUND, 0. }, 



WILLIAM CASSIUS GOODLOE, 

OK IvEXIN^^lX ., i\ ^ 

Late Captain and A. A. G., U. S. Vols. 
READ BEFORE THE 

Society^of^Ex-Arniy^and^Navy^OffiGers 



CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



APRIL lO, 1884. 



CINICINNATI: 

PETER G. THOMSON, 

1884. 






W68t.Iie6.HiBfc.Boo. 






n 



Kentucky Unionists of 1861. 



Commander, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

In accepting the invitation of the Committee from the 
" Society of Ex-Army and Navy officers," I did so with many 
misgivings as to my own fitness. 

The subject demands perfect accuracy of historical state- 
ments, and, without doing unnecessary hurt to the precon- 
ceived and doubtless honest sentiments of many in my own 
State, I shall endeavor at the same time to be entirely just to 
the early Union men of southern, slave-holding Kentucky. 
I shall not shrink from the task, even if not voluntarily chosen ; 
and while I shall not endeavor to conceal the mistakes and 
false steps of the Unionists, neither shall I pass over in silence 
the glaring inconsistencies, sinister scheming and wicked pur- 
poses of the secessionists. 

You have selected as my subject, the " Kentucky Union- 
ists of 1861 ; " and in order that you may be entirely impartial 
in your judgment of their intentions and accomplishments, 
you must not by comparison associate Kentucky with your 
own, or that of any other non-slave-holding, or northern 
State. You must look upon her as she really was in 1860-61, 
and I think you will readily admit, that by force of educa- 
tion and association, the tendencies of her people were more 
natural toward the South than the North, more toward slav- 
ery than freedom. I grant 3'ou that to look back to so dark a 
period is difficult, surrounded, as you now are, by the dazzling 
brilliancy of the stupendous advancements and wondrous 
achievements of the past quarter of a century. 

(3) 



— 4 — 

I shall not speak of political parties, nor mention the 
names of men with greater frequency than is absolutely nec- 
essary, and should I be so unfortunate as to say aught that 
may be in the least degree objectionable to any one of my 
hearers, I beg that it may be remembered how remote is the 
time of which I am speaking. 

Kentucky has never borne an insignificant part in the his- 
tory of our country, and whether in the din and shock of bat- 
tle, or in the more ennobling fields of statesmanship and juris- 
prudence, her sons have won conspicuous and enduring fame. 
Standing as she did in i86i,a slave-holding State, with slave- 
holding laws, and, to a certain degree, with their natural 
accompaniments of prejudice and passion, bounded equally by 
free and slave States, even then her sons, though not at the 
time her citizens, were the very embodiment of the hopes, the 
aspirations, aye, the destinies of the whole American people. 

The wild, reckless passion of the South, whose hope it 
was to disrupt the Union and make slavery perpetual, in de- 
fiance of law and contempt of opposition, with that over-bear- 
ing and rebellious spirit characteristic of the people and the 
times, selected as its chieftain, Jefferson Davis. 

On the other hand, in perfect conformity with the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and the laws made in pursuance 
thereof, there was inaugurated as the President of this great 
Republic, another Kentuckian by birth, who was destined to 
inspire the patriotism, quicken the conscience, ennoble the 
thought, and strengthen the love of country with the holiest 
devotion and Christian sincerity — the immortal Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The election of this, the first republican President, was 
eagerly seized upon b}^ the secessionists of the South as a 
happy incident, by which they hoped to inflame the passions 
and excite the fears of their less ardent followers, and the 
more quickly compass their long-cherished object, a disunion 
of the States. 

A majority of the people even of the seceding States — 



— 5 — 

with possibly one or two exceptions — did not go into the re- 
bellion free-willed and cheerfully, however true to the cause, 
and zealous in its support they may have afterward been. 

Those of Virginia and Tennessee — without mentioning 
others — are notable illustrations. 

None understood better than did the secession leaders 
the subordinating influences of forms of law, and through the 
official machinery of State governments, however unjustly or 
recklessly obtained, they knew only too well how to crush 
into the earth all who stood in the way of their violent as- 
sumptions. 

Compact organizations kept them alwa3'^s mindful of their 
own strength, as well as familiar with the salient points of the 
opposition. 

Secessionists always knew to whom to talk, and with 
whom to act. The Unionists were without any preconcerted 
line of action, distrustful of almost every one, and while keep- 
ing their powder dry, looked probably more than they should 
to the purity of their hopes, and sincerity of their belief, to ex- 
tricate them happily from their troubles. 

The men in Kentucky who loved their country, and re- 
solved deep down in their inmost hearts to stand by the 
Union and the Stars and Stripes, even unto death, instinctive- 
ly began as early as August, i860, to ward oft' secession, by 
voting for a candidate for Clerk of the Court of Appeals — the 
only State officer elected at that time — who was well known 
to be warmly attached to the Union. 

The disruption of the Democratic Convention, at Charles- 
ton, had displayed the cloven foot of possible secession, and 
twenty-three thousand majority for a Union candidate was the 
response Kentucky gave. 

This was followed up a few months later by the larger 
number of the followers of Douglas and Lincoln casting 
their votes for Bell, that there might be no mistake as to the 
Electoral vote of Kentucky being cast against her own citizen 
candidate, the same, who had four years before in the posi- 



tion of second on the ticket, changed Kentuck}- from a Whig, 
or American, to a Democratic State. No surer test of her 
earnestness in the cause of the Union, and perfect subordina- 
tion of the highest personal regard and admiration to pat- 
riotic principle could have been made ; for John C. Brecken- 
ridge, at that day, iustly occupied a proud position in the 
hearts of nearly all Kentuckians. Against any other candi- 
date the Union vote of Kentucky, though 13,000 in majority, 
would have been perceptibly increased. 

At this election, did Kentucky, for the second time, give 
unmistakable evidence of her Union spirit. South Carolina 
did not wait for an "overt act" from the incoming President, 
but before the year had closed severed her connection with the 
Union in a bombastic manner, strikingly in contrast with her 
subsequent humiliating return. 

On the 14th of April, 1861, the "Confederate Armies" 
caused the capitulation of the gallant defenders of Fort 
Sumter, and along with that of his brave comrades should 
go down to posterity for emulation and reverence, the name 
of that patriotic, Union-loving Kentuckian, Robert Anderson. 

It must be particularly noted that the State officers and 
members of the Legislature of Kentucky who held office in 
the Autumn of i860 and Spring of 1861, were elected in 1859, 
a period at least when the countr}^ at large was unsuspicious 
of any serious secession movement. 

'Twas to the Governor then elected Mr. Lincoln ad- 
dressed his request — made the day after the capitulation of 
Fort Sumter — for volunteers to assist in subduing the Rebel- 
lion, and his hasty and falsely prophetic response that, 
" Kentucky would furnish no troops for the wicked purpose 
of subduing her sister Southern States," certainly did not 
mark him as one around whom the Unionists could rally with 
securit}^ though it is but justice to Gov. Magoffin to say, that 
his high sense of honor prevented him from doing many 
things to which his sympathies inchned him. 

How nearly the Legislature, elected at the same time and 



by the same majority that carried him into power, came to 
sustaining the response of the Governor, it shall now be my 
province to show. 

The census of i860 made Kentucky the ninth State in 
population in the Union, and in a total of 1,555,684 souls 
there were 225,483 slaves. 

During the month of November, i860, "Union" meet- 
ings were held in various portions of the State, and one of the 
first Union speeches came from a Kentucky Senator, who 
warmly defended that portion of President Buchanan's mes- 
sage, denying the right of secession, against the fierce attack 
of a Senator from North Carolina. 

About Christmas the Governor of Kentucky was impor- 
tuned, by an accredited commissioner from Mississippi, to 
call an extra session of the Legislature, "for the adoption of 
efficient measures for their common defense and safety." 

The Legislature met in called session, January 17, 1861, 
and to the action of that body the eyes of the whole country 
were turned. The secessionists of the South, with full knowl- 
edge of the political complexion of its members, with seeming 
confidence awaited the result. The "State Guard," the only 
authorized military organization in the State, I say plainly, 
was formed and used, as far as it was possible, in the interests 
of the Rebellion, to intimidate and over-awe Union sentiment. 
The act authorizing the " State Guard " became a law March 
5, i860, and stipulated that the "Inspector-General" should 
be Commander-in-Chief. Its Commander, by appointment 
of the Governor, was Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, of whom 
it may be remembered, preferred later on at " Fort Donel- 
son'' an " unconditional and immediate surrender" to an im- 
mediate assault upon his works. Only a failure to secure 
arms lessened the mischief this organization was designed to 
commit. 

The Legislature, mindful of its tendencies, refused ade- 
quate appropriations, notwithstanding which, the Governor 
sent L. P. Blackburn to Arkansas, and Gen. Buckner North, 



to procure the necessary arms. Blackburn only succeeded 
in obtaining a few unserviceable guns, and Buckner was very 
early and suggestively turned from his part of the mission. 

To the course the Legislature would pursue, the Union 
men looked with more hope than confidence, and an account 
of the three months battling in that body for supremacy, would 
in itself take longer time that your patience would allot me. 
The members who had supported Bell and Everett were 
mostl}', but not all, for the Union. 

The Douglas men were badly divided, and the Breck- 
enridge men, with four honorable exceptions, were tor dis- 
imion to a man. I could not feel that I had done my duty 
did I fail to name those true, brave, and patriotic men, who, 
to use their own language, determined to "cast party ties to 
the dogs, and work with any and all men for the preservation 
of the Union." They were Thornton F. Marshall and John 
A. Prall in the Senate, and R. T. Jacob — afterward a colonel 
in the Union Army — and Rob't A. Burton, jr., in the House. 

The accession of Messrs. Jacob and Burton gave the 
Unionists a bare majority of one in the House, and it is im- 
possible, in my estimation, to overvalue the services of these 
men to the Union cause. Had they chosen to act with their 
party associates, and not followed the teachings of patriotism 
and love of country, certainly a calarnity, much greater than 
Kentucky experienced, would have been her lot, and corre- 
spondingly extended to the entire country. I beg that you will 
not interpret this to mean that under any circumstances what- 
ever could the Unionists of Kentucky have been driven into 
rebellion, even had the State formally seceded. For, though 
in the general upheaval of things, some of the weak and 
doubting may have been lost from sight, the great body of 
Kentucky loyalists would have done then as they did later — 
thrown their support unreservedly for the Union. The fact 
that nearly eighty thousand white Kentuckians wore the blue 
and followed the Stars and Stripes relieves this statement of 
all semblance of empty boasting. 



But to return to the trials and anxieties of the Unionists 
of the Legislature. Had the one majorit}-— before alluded 
to — been perfectly reliable, a dozen could not have been more 
effective ; but such, unfortunately, was not the case. 

There were five or six doubtful and unstable members, 
beside a few others who kept themselves so full of one of the 
principal products of the State as to leave but little room for 
patriotism to dwell. It was incumbent upon the Unionists not 
only to watch these men with unremitting care, but guard 
closely against the covert enemy, and the constantly increas- 
ing encroachments of the rebels without. 

Much has been said and written in derision of " Kentucky 
Neutrality," and the subject, whenever mentioned, is prone to 
excite either laughter or contempt. How could a State, it is 
asked, act independently of the Government without being in 
rebellion? or of what avail would a position of neutrality be 
without the physical power to enforce it against both belliger- 
ents? Nothing could be more ridiculous than the position 
Kentucky is supposed to have occupied in her chosen attitude 
of " neutral ;" but the absurdity of so untenable a position 
may not be so great when all the surrounding circumstances 
are correctly understood. Every movement of the opposing 
Legislative factions — so painfully equal numerically — had but 
one meaning and object, viz : Secession or Union. The one 
party did whatever, in its opinion, would lead Kentucky to 
join the Confederacy. The other left nothing undone — pos- 
sible to accomplish — which tended to hold the State true to 
her allegiance. This was all there was embodied in the num- 
berless votes, speeches and resolutions, of that memorable 
body, and its every act can only be properly judged in refer- 
ence to this one vital question. What lesser subjects may 
have demanded, none received great attention, and though it 
may not have been a battle of the giants, it was, nevertheless, 
a fierce, bitter, unrelenting struggle between treason and loy- 
alty, and in the end a just God gave the victor}' to the pat- 
riots. 



— lO — 

More than once, at critical junctures, did the noted seces- 
sionists throughout the State assemble at Frankfort to brow- 
beat and threaten the Legislators. But as soon as the tele- 
graph could summon them, there came to meet this blustering 
crowd as stout-hearted loyalists and as courageous men as 
ever breathed. 

Nor must it be accepted as true that there were wanting 
on the floor of either House, Unionists bold enough to de- 
nounce treason, and brave enough to defy the traitors. Said 
one in the Senate : " When Kentucky goes down it will be in 
blood. Let that be understood. She will not go as other 
States have gone. Let the responsibility rest on you, where 
it belongs. It is all your work, and whatever happens will be 
3'our work. We have more right to defend our Government 
than 3'ou have to overturn it. Let our good Union brethren 
of the South stand their ground. I know that many patriotic 
hearts in the seceded States still beat warml}^ for the old 
Union — the old Flag. I have an abiding confidence in the 
right, and I know that this secession movement is all wrong."' 
The disunionists felt that their greatest strength was with the 
present Legislature, and if anything of interest to them was 
accomplished, it must be done by it. On the other hand, the 
Unionists had every reason to believe that, if it were possible 
to ward oft' secession by this Legislature, they had nothing to 
fear from the one soon to be elected. They were, on all 
proper occasions, ready and willing to appeal to the people, 
having perfect confidence in their patriotic devotion to their 
country ; and this confidence was never at any time mis- 
placed. 

The Governor, in his message, recommended the calling 
of a sovereignity convention, for the purpose of determining 
the question of secession. This the Unionists resisted, prefer- 
ring not to sanction any movement questioning the loyalty of 
the State, and the proposition was defeated, though by a bare 
majority. Very soon afterward, however, the opposing par- 
ties were brought again face to tace, on the question of 



— II — 

"' armed '" or " mediatorial neutrality," a distinction many may 
urge without a difference. 

But there was a wide and wonderful difference in the 
minds of those who drew the distinction. "Armed neutrali- 
ty/' which meant the display of force against both sides, was 
the work of the secessionists, and acquiesced in by the Union- 
ists only through their inability to defeat it. " Mediatorial 
neutrality," which sought to bring about a peace between the 
two sections, rapidly drifting into war, was the effort of the 
Unionists. Never did the Union men of Kentucky deny the 
right of the General Government to transport troops across 
the State, or to raise volunteers within its limits, to assist in 
preserving the National life. All such opposition, and wide 
mouthed clamor, for a rigid observance of Kentucky's neu- 
trality, came from rebels, and those in sympathy with them. 
The Union men, in their multiplicity of embarrassments, 
only asked the forbearance of the Government in tiding over 
the interval until a general election. And in this course they 
had the sanction of the highest authorit}^ Mr. Lincoln said 
that he "hoped Kentucky would stand by the Government in 
the present difficulties ; but if she would not do that, let her 
stand still and take no part against us." Kentucky fondl}^ 
hoped, and with the utmost sincerity, that in som-e way an 
amicable adjustment might be reached, whereby bloodshed 
could be avoided, and the Union, with its manifold blessings, 
remain intact. Gladly would she have sacrificed anything, 
save her honor and position in the Union, to have restored 
fraternal feeling, and reconciled every estranged heart. Why 
should she be censured for indulging such exalted hopes? 
Should her dream be ruthlessly brushed aside as more than 
chimerical, when the President of the United States called only 
for three months' men, and the great Secretary of State openly- 
proclaimed the war would not last ninety days? Further than 
this. General Sherman, in his memoirs, says that he saw Gen. 
Patterson's army cross the Potomac in 1861, and there he 
"talked a good deal with his friend and classmate, Geo. H. 



12 

Thomas ; also with Gen. Cadwallader and the staff officers of 
Gen. Patterson, Fitz John Porter, Belger, Beckwith, and 
others, all of whom seemed encouraged to think that the war 
was to be short and decisive, and that as soon as it was de- 
monstrated that the General Government meant in earnest to 
defend its rights and property, some general compromise 
would result." 

I will now let speak one of the principal actors in the 
Kentucky Legislature, as to the true meaning of the course 
pursued by him and his associate Unionists : 

"Our opponents wanted a sovereignity convention. We 
did not. Kentucky loved the Union with a deep and unalter- 
able love. She loved every section and ever}- part of the 
great countr}- that had been bequeathed to us, as a rich heri- 
tage, by the heroic men of the Revolution, and by Almighty 
God. She wanted no divided and limited inheritance. She 
determined to lend her great energies, first to make peace, if 
that was possible ; and if that could not be achieved, she de- 
termined to stand by the Union if the richest blood in her veins 
poured out like water, and at all hazard." 

Those I may add were sentiments common to Union men. 

On May 4, 1861, an election was held for delegates to the 
" Border States Convention," which proved to be a one-sided 
affair. The rebels, seeing overwhelming defeat staring them 
in the face, withdrew their candidates ; and even without op- 
position the Union delegates received 98,561 votes, being 
nearly two-thirds of the aggregate vote, at the Presidential 
election, the year previous. Kentucky and Missouri were the 
only States represented, though I believe Tennessee did 
have one delegate, and, in their formal address, it was de- 
clared that "the direct question before the people of the United 
States, and of Kentucky, the grand and commanding question 
was, Union or no Union, Government or no Government, 
Nationality or no Nationality. That Kentuck}- had no cause 
of complaint with the General Government, and no cause of 
quarrel with the Federal Constitution ; that Kentucky Vv^ould 
continue to be loyal to the Constitution, the Government and 



— 13 — 

flag of the United States, and refuse alliance with an}^ who 
would destro}^ the Union, or commit the great wrong of de- 
serting their posts in the National Congress ; that Kentucky 
would remain true to herself, and loyal to the Constitutional 
administration of the General Government; appear again in 
the Congress of the United States, insist upon her Constitu- 
tional rights in the Union, not out of it, and insist on the 
integrity of the Union, its Constitution, and its Government." 

About this time the Governor again asked for authority, 
to order an election t'or delegates to a State Convention, 
which the Legislature refused, and adjourned on the 24th day 
of May sine die. 

Before this date regularlv organized troops had left the 
State, w^ith drums beating and flags flying, for the avowed 
purpose of joining the Confederates. The Governor renewed 
his effort to procure arms for the State guards, and the Union 
men thought it best to dispense with "grass throwing" and 
resort to weapons more in keeping with the times. 

There returned, at this time, to his mother State, a man, 
who for years had been serving his country in distant waters, 
who at once imparted his own enthusiasm to all with whom he 
came in contact. Brusque, perhaps, in manners ; rough, too, 
he may have been in language, but Wm. Nelson's love of 
country was as pure as the billows upon which he sailed, and 
his bravery and patriotism as expanseless as the ocean itself. 
'Twas through his endeavors that arms were procured in Wash- 
ington for the home guards, who were not slow to confront the 
State guards. Five thousand stand of arms being judiciously 
distributed among faithful and reliable Union men, imparted 
additional security to all, and relieved the more timid of all 
fear of State guard intimidation at the approaching elections. 
These arms — derisively called by the rebels, "Lincoln guns" 
— which were given to the various "home guard" companies, 
quickly solved a hitherto vexatious and difiicult problem. The 
Unionists felt perfectly confident to care for themselves, pro- 
vided the means of protection were placed in their hands. 



— 14 — 

They stood in constant danger of being overrun by armed 
rebels from Tennessee, who menaced the State all along its 
southern border. Arms, the one thing needful for complete 
protection, they had not, and how to acquire them was a mat- 
ter of no little concern. That arms could be procured had 
been demonstrated by Nelson, but the difficulty of placing 
them in the hands of Unionists only, without provoking a con- 
flict, was a much more serious matter. 

It was finally determined that arms should be sent to 
Cincinnati, subject to the orders of Gen. Nelson, who in turn 
would issue them, upon requisitions signed by Joshua F. Speed, 
to such men and organizations as were known to be trust- 
worthy. To send arms to Louisville, Maysville, and other 
places on the Ohio river, was of eas}^ accomplishment, and 
unattended by danger or undue excitement, but when the 
news of such distribution reached the interior of the State, 
there were the wildest uproar and dissent. 

Nothing more than a plain statement of facts, in regard 
to the manner in which these arms were distributed, would, 
even at this day, with all the experiences of the war before us, 
read like a thrilling romance. The names of the brave men 
who followed the wagons bearing the arms — ready at any 
moment to defend them with their lives — are well known and 
gratefully remembered. The great service they rendered the 
State at that time was but the beginning of far greater and 
more important achievements vipon the field of battle in be- 
half of an undivided Union. And I can only express at this 
time the great regret I feel at my inability to give you, in 
detail, an account of the heroic deeds of these patriotic men 
during the trjang and troublous times of 1861. 

June 20th a special election for Congress was held, and 
nine out often Union candidates were elected, by an aggre- 
gate majority of nearly 55,000. This result, though not un- 
expected, caused the greatest rejoicing amongst Union men, 
for they, as well as their friends, regarded it as a settlement of 
Kentucky's status. If anything were needed in addition to 



— 15 — 

this to blast the hopes of Kentucky rebels, it was furnished in 
the election which followed, August 5th, whereat seventy-six 
Union members of the House, to twent3'-four States-rights 
men, and twenty-seven Union Senators to eleven States-rights 
men, including those holding over, were elected. This action 
of the people so definitely forecast the future course of the 
State, that there necessarily followed rapidly a culmination of 
important events. 

Many Kentuckians, impelled by a true patriotism, too ir- 
resistible to await the slow progress of events in their own 
State, had, months before, crossed over into Indiana, and 
formed themselves into regiments, or joined other military 
forces of the United States. But in this month of August, 
" Camp Dick Robinson " — of historic fame — was organized in 
the very centre of the State, and served as a rendezvous for 
Kentucky volunteers, and East Tennessee loyalists fleeing 
from rebel conscription. 

Sympathizers with rebellion did not under-estimate the 
dangerous possibilities of this growing camp, and the Govern- 
or was overrun with remonstrances against its continuance. 

Strict " neutrality " had now become with the rebels a 
dearly cherished object, and their eyes dilated with surprise, 
and their countenances were overspread with horror, at the 
mere thought of its violation. It was considered no violation 
of good faith upon their part, to openly enlist and forward 
troops to the Confederacy ; to do any and all things permitted 
by their personal safety to destroy the Government ; but any 
effort upon the part of the friends of the Union to thwart their 
mahcinations inspired them with the greatest horror. Govern- 
or Magoffin wrote Mr. Lincoln : "As Governor of the State of 
Kentucky, and in the name of the people, I have the honor to 
represent, and with the single and earnest desire to avert from 
their peaceful homes the horrors of war, I urge the removal, 
from the limits of Kentucky, of the military force now organ- 
ized and encamped within the State." In Mr. Lincoln's 
answer he said, " In all I have done in the premises, I have 



— 16 — 

acted upon the urgent solicitation of many Kentuckians, and 
in accordance with wliat I believed, and still believe, to be the 
wish of a majorit}' of all the Union-loving people of Kentucky. 
While I have conversed on this subject with many eminent 
men of Kentucky, including a large number of her members 
of Congress, I do not remember that any one of them, or any 
other person except your Excellency, and the bearers of your 
Excellency's letter, have urged me to remove the military 
force from Kentucky, or to disband it." In consequence the 
President very wisely and justly refused in any manner to in- 
terfere. On September 3, 1861, Confederate troops, under 
Gen. Polk, occupied Hickman and Columbus, Kentucky 
towns on the Mississippi river; and on September 5th, Feder- 
al troops, under the command of a man who was destined to 
receive the sword of Lee at the final surrender, crossed the 
Ohio river and occupied Paducah, thus practicall}' putting an 
end to neutrality, though the Rebels used their utmost en- 
deavors to continue it in force, hoping still, perhaps, to seduce 
Kentucky into rebellion. On September loth a States-rights 
convention was held in Frankfort, and as many of its mem- 
bers were afterward conspicuous upholders of the Confeder- 
acy, it was but natural, from their antecedents and proclivities, 
that they should advocate "strict neutrality" and the disper- 
sion of Federal encampments. 

With mock sincerity the}' promised that when Federal 
troops were removed they would then assist in driving the 
Rebels out. The Union men took an opposite view, and in- 
sisted that the Rebels should evacuate the State, without ex- 
acting an}' promises from the Federal troops. The Legislature 
— the one newly elected — being in session, passed a resolu- 
tion, by seventy-one to twenty-six in the House, and twenty- 
five to eight in the Senate, instructing the Governor to "notify 
those concerned that Kentucky expects the Kentucky or Ten- 
nessee Confederate troops to be withdrawn from her soil un- 
conditionally," and by a similar vote refused to make a like 
demand for the removal of the Federal troops. The Governor 



— 17 — 

vetoed the resolution, but it was promptly passed over his 
head, and thus ended, abrupt!}^ and forever, "Kentucky neu- 
trality." 

Indignation and resentment, at the invasion of the State 
by the Rebels, were aroused to the highest pitch, and the en- 
thusiasm with which crowds volunteered to repel the intruders 
was in perfect accord with the hearty and gladsome welcome 
extended to Union troops then pouring into the State from all 
directions. 

It will be observed that the Confederates entered the 
State soon after the election had resulted so disastrously to 
them, and just prior to the assembling of a States-rights con- 
vention. They did not receive the encouragement they had 
hoped for, and in subsequent marches of their armies through 
the State, and frequent incursions of their raiders, they were 
forced to admit their disappointment in enlisting recruits. 
After the people had spoken in such unmistakable tones at the 
August election, and the States-rights convention had borne 
so little fruit, some of the most prominent men in the State, 
though well known secessionists, tailing in their persistent ef- 
forts to seduce the people into secession, began to fear for 
their own safety, and in the darkness of night, as befitted their 
cause, sneaked away, by twos and fours, into the Confeder- 
acy. 

In the meantime recruiting went rapidly on. The forces 
of the Union and of the Confederacy were growing in numbers, 
to the magnitude they ultimately attained. " Camp Dick Rob- 
inson " received its complement of volunteers, and troops from 
without as well as within the State were concentrated there to 
repel an invasion from Tennessee. Gen. Nelson, who had 
been in command, was transferred to Eastern Kentucky — and 
there came after him to command these southern troops, on 
this southern line, a southern man, w^hose native State was 
then in active rebellion. 

The fallacious and specious theory that State loyalty was 
paramount to National allegiance had no allurements for him. 



— 18 — 

Devoted as he was to his State, his great heart loved more 
dearly the entire Union, and with traitors on every hand, and 
in the midst of difficulties tew had to encounter, George H. 
Thomas saw clearly his duty, and most nobly did he fulfill it. 
A nobler. commander could not have been chosen, nor one 
better qualified to mould into soldiers the raw recruits flocking 
to his standard. The regiments formed at this camp, notice- 
ably the ist and 2d — afterward known as the 3d and 4th 
regiments of Kentuck}^ Volunteer Infantry — two other Ken- 
tucky regiments and two Tennessee regiments, constituted 
the first brigade, first division of the army of the Cumberland ; 
thus giving to Kentucky regiments the dominant honor of 
forming the miclcus of that wondrous and irresistible organi- 
zation with which the name of Thomas is so inseparably and 
ineftaceably intertwined. 

Van Horn, in his history of the army of the Cumberland, 
says : " From the time of the organization of this brigade, the 
number of troops embraced, their movements in the State, 
under the National colors, before any others, and its subse- 
quent designation as the first brigade, first division, of the 
army, its claims as the imcleus are unquestionable." No mean 
distinction for any troops to enjoy, and Kentucky does not 
under-estimate this honor so gracefully bestowed upon her 
sons. 

'Twas from this camp the troops marched to repel an in- 
vasion from Tennessee headed by the rebel Gen. Zollicot- 
fer. I shall not attempt to describe the engagement — doubt- 
less some of you were there in persour — but only mention it as 
the first signal victory of the Federal arms, made more com- 
plete, probably, by the death of the rebel commander, who 
was killed by a Kentucky colonel. 

In the light of subsequent events, what a misnomer it 
seems to call this engagement at "Mill Springs" a battle. 
Yet how grand the victory seemed at that time, coming as it 
did, the first bright flash from amid the gloom and darkness, 
which more than one defeat had caused to settle down upon 



— 19 — 

the entire loyal portion of the country. Bull Run had come 
and gone, with its immediate depression, but far-reaching 
benefits. The people had but awakened to a full realization 
that a stubborn war confronted them in all its naked hideous- 
ness. The loyal heart was bowed in sadness, the nation 
kneeled in prayer, and the stoutest patriot trembled for the 
future. It seemed as if blundering and apparent incompetency 
would never cease ; when, upon lightning wings, was spread 
throughout the loyal North the happy intelligence of a Union 
victory in Kentucky. A thrill of joy pervaded every loyal 
bosom throughout the land, and every rebel was correspond- 
ingly dismayed. Many seized upon it as a bright omen of 
what was to follow, and cheerily prophesied that it would 
prove but the beginning of the end. Though the end was 
somewhat farther oft' than some of us supposed, and much 
more distant than any of us desired, yet from that day on, the 
Union grew in strength, and God continued to prosper the 
national cause until the culmination at Appomattox. 

I have often associated this battle and its supposed far- 
reaching effects with a sketch intended to be prophetic of the 
downfall of slavery. Leisurely strolling along the Nevsky 
Prospect, in Russia's capital upon the beautiful Neva, a short 
while before the beginning of hostilities on this side, while in 
sight of the Czar's winter palace and under the shadow of the 
magnificent cathedral of St. Isaacs, with its golden plated 
domes, and grand columns inlaid with porphyry, malachite 
and lapis lazuli, my attention was diverted from all those 
interesting objects to a small card photograph in the window 
of an unpretentious bazar. Upon closer examination, I 
noticed a rude sketch of a man dangling by the neck from a 
rough and illy-constructed gallows. The foreground was all 
darkness, the background dark, save through the thickly 
surging black clouds a small, bright light had broken, and 
was reflected in soft hues upon the head of the otherwise dark 
figure upon the gallows. 

The black surroundings were intended to represent slav- 



20 

ery ; the light, breaking through the distance and resting on 
the head of the motionless figure, was Liberty ; the figure 
itself, though rigid in death, speaking so eloquently in behalf 
of a down-trodden and sorely-oppressed people, was that of 
Jolin Brown, the martyr. 

The utter dissimilarity between a conflict of arms and a 
sketch upon canvas is admittedly great ; but the verification 
of the prophes}^ concerning each followed upon parallel lines, 
and the collapse of the rebellion and the extinction of slav- 
ery came, as it was meet they should, at one and the same 
time. 

A little earlier than the occurrences of which I have just 
spoken, Gen. Buckner, who had carried as many of the State 
Guard with him as possible — for it is but just to say that all 
were not disloyal — and formed a recruiting camp for the 
Confederacy in Tennessee near the Kentuckv line, moved 
with his forces to Bowling Green, and issued his proclamation 
to the "People of Kentncky." Still harping upon neutrality, 
the dearest of all things to the rebel heart, he was pleased to 
give "his own assurance" that the forces under his command 
would be used to aid the Governor to carry out the "strict 
neutrality desired by the people." 

Kentucky did not desire " assistance " of any kind from 
such a source, and with a loyal Legislature and her brave 
sons rapidly volunteering for active service, she felt content to 
take that position in the Union to which her heart was in- 
clined, and her importance entitled her. 

President Lincoln is reported to have said that " he 
would like to have God on his side, but he miisf have Ken- 
tucky." And from that on he did have Kentucky ; and those 
of you who were at any time thrown with Kentucky troops 
can testify as you may to their bravery and etFiciencv. 

I am not unmindful of the sneers at her course, from the 
ignorant and prejudiced, nor of the reflections upon her 
loyalty by stay-at-homes from other States ; and I beg your 
indulgence while I bring forward cotemporaneous authorities, 



21 -— 

Northern and Southern, to speak of Kentucky's position in 
its true and proper hght. A leading Northern journal said : 

" Gentlemen endowed with more back bone than discre- 
tion, continue to speak contemptuously of the loyalty of Ken- 
tucky, but they will do well to remember how much the 
success of our army in the West has been owing to the 
attitude of that State. They will do well to remember that, 
had she gone over into the ranks of the Rebel States, the seat 
of war would have been transferred from the Cumberland and 
the Tennessee to the Ohio ; that instead of capturing Memphis 
and Nashville, we should be defending Cincinnati and St. 
Louis ; that instead of penetrating with our armies into the 
heart of the insurgent country, we should have all we could 
do during the winter and spring to defend our own frontier. 
They will do well to remember that Kentucky, even neutral, 
would be worth fifty thousand men to us ; that in her present 
loyal position she is potent almost to decide the fortunes of the 
war. Let us generously give her credit, not only for what 
she has done, but for what she has prevented. Let us admit 
that, without her aid, to-day the South-west would be irre- 
trievably lost to the Union." 

Horace Greeley, in his book, the "American Conflict," says 
that " Kentucky emphatically, persistently, repeatedly, by 
overwhelming majorities, refused — alike before and after the 
inauguration of war by the Confederate attack on Fort Sum- 
ter — to ally herself with the rebellion, or stand committed to 
any scheme looking to disunion in whatever contingency." 
There could be no stronger Union testimony than this. 

In support of it, however, though from a difl^erent stand- 
point, Pollard, in his Southern History, while seeking to 
compliment those men who left the border States to join the 
Confederacy, says: 

"It is not to be supposed for a moment that while the 
position of Kentucky, like that of Maryland, was one of 
reproach, it is to mar the credit due to that portion of the 
people of each, who, in the face of instant difficulties, and at 
the expense of extraordinary sacrifices, repudiated the de- 
cision of their States to remain under the Federal Government, 
and expatriate themselves that they might espouse the cause 



22 

of liberty in the South. The honor due such men is, in fact, 
increased by the consideration that their States remained in 
the Union, and compelled them to ily from their homes, that 
they might certify their devotion to the South and her, cause 
of independence. Still the justice of history must be main 
tained. The demonstrations of sympathy on the part of the 
States referred to — Kentucky and Maryland — considered 
either in proportion to what was offered the Lincoln Govern- 
ment by those States, or with respect to the number of their 
population, were sparing and exceptional ; and although these 
demonstrations on the part of Kentucky, from the great and 
brilliant names associated with them, were, perhaps, even 
more honorable and more useful than the examples of South- 
ern spirit offered by Maryland, it is unquestionably, though 
painfully true, that the great bod}^ of the people of Kentucky 
were active allies of Lincoln, and the unnatural enemies of 
those united to them by lineage, blood and common insti- 
tutions." 

This, I submit, should be conclusive as to the overwhelm- 
ing preponderance of Unionism in Kentucky. That the State 
ever in any wise aided rebellion, or faltered in true devotion 
to the Union, I utterly deny. That some of her sons gave 
active support to the rebellion — as many in other States were 
unmindful of their duties — I freely admit ; but they did so in 
flagrant violation of their high-sounding professions of State 
loyalty, and in opposition to the wishes of an overwhelming 
majority of their own people, expressed freel}' and repeatedly 
at the polls. The infamous charge that Kentucky was co- 
erced into loyalt}^ is as baseless as it is contemptible. If the 
rebels were in the majority, what cowardly poltroons thev 
must have been to have run away from so insignificant a 
minority as they would have you believe the Unionists were. 
No, I repeat emphatically that Kentucky was ever true to the 
Union. If in the beginning of our sectional troubles, from a 
disinclination to rush into a war with a people with whom 
there was so much in common, and from enforced circum- 
stances which could not have been foreseen in time to avoid, 
she allowed herself even temporaril}^ to assume a position of 



— 23 — 

questionable allegiance, her subsequent conduct gave such 
undeniable proof of her loyalty, that only the rebel, baffled 
in his treason, or the coward, made more secure through her 
patriotism, would dare to question either the purity of her 
motives or the wisdom of her course. 

Upon a "marble slab, contributed by Kentucky to the 
monument erected upon the banks of the Potomac to com- 
memorate the veneration in which is held the " Father of his 
country," is the inscription: " Kentucky, the first to enter 
the Union ; with the blessing of God she will be the last to 
leave it." In full accord with this patriotic sentiment, Ken- 
tucky has ever lived, and at no time have the services of her 
sons been required, from the early predatory Indian wars to 
the time of the great Rebellion, but their valor and patriotism 
were sufficient to place them in the fore-front of the battle. 
Her position was of an order high above the understanding 
of her detractors and maligners, and her losses, sufferings 
and sacrifices were second to those of no other commonwealth 
in the Union. She reached her decision to stand b}^ the 
Union, not through waverings and doubts, but in sorrow and 
pain at the course pursued by those whom she loved only less 
than the Union itself. Gladly would she have put the cup 
from her lips ; but neither friends nor kindred, the harrowing 
surroundings of the present, nor the more gloomy uncertain- 
ties of the future, could swerve her from her inflexible purpose 
to maintain through every trial the integrity of the Union she 
loved so well. In regard to the "peculiar institution" of 
slavery, neither its maintenance nor its downfall influenced in 
any way the course of a majority of our people. Mr. Lin- 
coln, in his celebrated* letter to Horace Greeley in 1862, but 
voiced the true sentiments of almost every Kentucky loyalist 
when he said : "If there be those who would not save the 
Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do 
not agree with them. If there be those who would not save 
the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, 
I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this strug- 



— 24 — 

trie is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy 
shivery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, 
I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, 
I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing some and 
leaving others alone, I would do that." 

But to return for only a moment to the Legislature, which 
took a recess until November 27th, and just before adjourn- 
ment issued an address to the people, from which I quote: 

" The Federal Government did nqt insist upon our active 
aid in furnishing troops, seeming content if we obeyed the 
laws and executed them on our own soil. Those engaged in 
rebellion, however, with hypocritical professions of friendship 
and respect, planted camps of soldiers all along our southern 
border ; seized by military power the stock on our railroads 
within their reach, in defiance of chartered rights ; impudently 
enlisted soldiers from our soil for their camps, whom they 
ostentatiously marched through their territory. The}' made 
constant raids into this State ; robbed us of our property ; 
insulted our people ; seized some of our citizens and carried 
them away as prisoners into the Confederate States. Our 
military was demoralized by the treacher}' of its chief officer 
in command, and many of its subordinates, until it became 
more an arm of the Confederate States than a guard of the 
State of Kentucky. Thrice have the revolutionists appealed 
to the ballot box, and thrice have the people expressed by 
overwhelming majorities their determination to stand by the 
Union and its government. They have not been active in 
this war, not from indifference or want of loyalty, but in the 
hope of better promoting a restoration of the Union and 
checking the rebellion by that course. Our hope of an 
amicable adjustment and a desire for peace led us to forbear 
until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. The attempt to 
destroy the union of these States we believe to be a crime, 
not only against Kentucky, but against all mankind." 

Soon after the Confederate armies entered Kentucky the 
mock ceremon}^ of holding a convention under their pro- 
tection, and formally passing an ordinance of secession, was 
gone through with in the town of Russell ville. This same 
convention elected also a Governor and other State officers for 



— 25 — 

Kentuck3^ and Senators and Congressmen to the Confederate 
Congress at Richmond. Probably this ridiculous perform- 
ance would have been forgotten with the amusement which it 
occasioned, had not the attempt to formally inaugurate the 
Governor a year later at the capital of the State had so far- 
cical a termination. The so-called first Governor had been 
killed at Shiloh, and the Lieutenant-Governor, succeeding to 
the empty honor, came with Bragg's army into the State and 
proceeded to Frankfort to claim his own. The rebels loudly 
proclaimed their intention and ability to permanently hold the 
State, and the programme for the "inaugural ceremonies" was 
elaborate in the extreme. But the Federal soldiery at that time 
had an unpleasant way of interfering with all Confederate 
amusements ; and, in the height of the festivities, a shell from 
a cannon on an adjacent hill-top was an unwelcome messen- 
ger of the approach of the Union army. A pell-mell rush 
from the town carried with it the rebels and their sympathiz- 
ers. The loyal Governor and Legislature returned, and the 
State Government and all its branches resumed its customary 
functions. 

Stringent laws were passed against those who had en- 
tered the rebel army. All were expatriated, but the disabil- 
ities imposed upon them were promptly removed at the close 
of the war. Of Kentucky's course after the war, toward 
those of her sons who had so wantonly assailed her, I will 
let one of that number speak : 

" Kentucky, true, generous and noble State; true and 
faithful daughter of that grand and glorious old mother, 
Virginia. She, when the clash of arms was passed, when 
carnage had left the earth, threw wide open her portals : she 
knew that her heart was large enough to embrace all her 
children, although they had pointed fratricidal arms against 
each other in the contest that was past. She erased from her 
statute books all her test oaths and test laws. She took us, 
her sons, back to her great and bleeding heart, remembering- 
only the glories of the past, and forgetting all there was to 
sadden and bereave." 



— 26 — 

The leniency and clemency with which the returning 
rebels were treated was creditable alone to the generosity and< 
kindheartedness of the Unionists, for it could not be truthfully 
said that the utter wantonness of their offenses were either 
misunderstood or under-estimated. It cannot be denied, 
however, and it pains me to say it, that, with characteristic 
and audacious elfrontery, they have boldly assumed that the 
misdirected magnanimit}^ which spared their lives and re- 
stored them to every privilege enjoyed b}' the Unionists, not 
only condoned their offenses, but invited them to subsequent 
aggressions against those who had shielded them, only differ- 
ent in form, but fully equal in ingratitude and wa-ong, to their 
thwarted attempts of 1861. I say this not with malice, but 
in deepest sorrow, and I can only hope that, even at this late 
day, the men who bore arms against the Union ma}- incline to 
give as has been given to them, and learn that friendships 
and obligations to be true and binding, should be both sin- 
cere and reciprocal. The slight evidences discernible of this 
better feeling returning, may, I trust, continue to increiise, 
until the only rivahy existing between those who wore the 
blue and those who wore the gray, may be an honest emulation 
as to who can lift higher the standard of pure government 
and an united Union, where all men are free and equal. 

In conclusion, if in what I have said, I have succeeded in 
doing even partial justice to the true Union men of Kentuck}-, 
I shall be more than content. While their conduct was lull}' 
understood and properly- appreciated by many, it seems to 
have been the province of certain pardoned rebels to misrep- 
resent their course and malign their motives. Long silence 
and forbearance on the part of the Union men, instead of serv- 
ing to soften criticism, has but emboldened their detractors to 
renewed and more envenomed attacks. 'Tis not to such that 
I appeal in vindication of our unsullied lo3'alt3^ ; for men who 
would destroy their country, would, with less compunction, 
stab the honor of its defenders. The loyal masses of the 
countr}^, and the brave defenders of its integrit}-, are only 



\^ 



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4 



— 27 — 

competent to sit in judgment upon our acts. To this tribunal 
we cheerfully and confidently submit our claims, for at least a 
portion of the credit due those who, in God's providence, 
brought about in His good time a full restoration of the 
Union. 

That the Union was saved is, I trust, alike grateful to 
every portion of the country. Look at America, as she is to- 
day, and who could wish her harm ? Take a hurried trip over 
it, beginning from the granite hills of New England, on which 
are situated such beautiful cities, thriving towns, and busy 
manufactories. From the great city and State of New York, 
through the National Capital, with its wondrous public build- 
ings ; to the tobacco fields of Virginia ; the pine forests of 
North Carolina ; the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina ; 
to the orange groves of Florida ; ihrough the States of Georgia 
and Alabama, rapidly increasing in manufactories, to the 
charming city of New Orleans, to which the whole cotton belt 
is tributary ; the great agricultural and mining States of 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentvicky ; 
the rich prairie lands of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wis- 
consin, with their numberless thriving cities and varied in- 
dustries ; the limitless cattle ranges of the far West, even to 
the a'old and silver ribbed mountains of the Sierra Nevadas. 
We pass on, gathering fruits and plucking beautiful flowers, 
through California to the flourishing cit}' of Portland, Oregon, 
only to find ourselves equi-distant between the southern prom- 
ontor^y of Florida, fragrant with orange blossoms, and the 
northernmost point of seal bearing Alaska. Was there ever a 
country of such resources and possibilities? Children should 
be taught to revere its institutions, respect its laws, uphold its 
honor, advance its interests; and with fifty millions of God- 
fearing, Union-loving people, what may we not hope to achieve 
in this our model " Government of the people, by the people, 
and for the people.'' 






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